Harry Clarke, renowned stained-glass artist and book illustrator, died in Coire, Switzerland, on January 6th 1931. He was forty-one years old. In Ireland, a deluge of eulogies greeted his death. In an obituary published in The Irish Times the following day, Abbey playwright, Lennox Robinson, described the enormous loss of his close friend:
Ireland has lost her greatest designer in stained glass, and her greatest black and white artist.

Converging Art Styles
Clarke lived in an era when many styles of art converged. There was art nouveau with its emphasis on highly decorative motifs. The late nineteenth century witnessed the advent of symbolism and fantastical art, while the 1920s saw the emergence of art deco, with its emphasis on sleek geometrical designs. The Celtic Revival inspired writers and artists to extol all that was once great about ancient Ireland. Although examples of each of these influences can be seen in Clarke’s work, the beauty and mastery of Clarke’s unique, illustrative style is evident in all of his stained-glass work: exquisite angels and elongated saints gaze out at the viewer, dressed in sumptuous robes, with large, luminous eyes and long, tapering fingers.

The Re-emergence of Stained-glass Art
When Harry Clarke was born on March 17th in 1889 in Dublin, the craft of stained glass had fallen into demise in Ireland. Mass-produced windows of poor quality were imported from Europe. At the beginning of the twentieth century, a number of artists began working in the medium of stained glass. Sarah Purser founded An TúrGloine–The Tower of Glass–in 1903. Harry’s father, Joshua, an immigrant from Leeds, established a church decorating and stained-glass business at 33 North Frederick Street, Dublin. His youngest son, Harry, showed an aptitude for drawing and design. It was Harry Clarke who would lead Irish stained glass out of the doldrums with his unique, exquisite creations that soon became ranked among the finest in the world.

Student Years and Graduation
During Clarke’s studies at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art he won three consecutive gold medals from 1911 to 1913, at the Board of Education’s National Competition at South Kensington, London. It was during his student years that Clarke met Margaret Crilly, a gifted artist and teacher originally from Newry, Co. Down. The pair married on October 31st 1914.
After graduation in 1913, Clarke decided to rent a studio in London. It was here that he secured his first commission from Harrap to illustrate the Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen. This was published in 1916. Clarke developed a love of ballet and delighted in attending performances during his trips to London. The orientalism of Russian designer, Léon Bakst’s intricate designs fired his imagination and he incorporated elements of ballet costumes into his stained-glass creations. In The Annunciation window at St. Joseph’s church, at Terenure, Dublin, Clarke depicts the Angel Gabriel wearing a frilly petticoat and ballet slippers, indicative of his enchantment with ballet costumes.

Perfecting Stained-Glass Techniques
In 1914, Clarke was awarded a scholarship to visit French medieval cathedrals. At Chartres Cathedral, Clarke was transfixed by the spectacular reds and blues that the medieval colourists had perfected. When he returned to Dublin, Clarke developed techniques using flashed glass, aciding and plating to achieve rich, jewel-like colours. His use of ruby and deep blues became the hallmark of his work. Clarke began experimenting with small, exquisite stained-glass panels that were inspired by literary themes, including the set of nine panels, based on John Millington Synge’s poem, Queens, commissioned by Larky Waldron.
Clarke became a regular at Waldron’s lavish parties, held at his palatial mansion, Marino, in Killiney. It was here that he was introduced to many of Dublin’s literati and intelligentsia. Though Clarke was shy and reserved by nature, he was also noted for his wit, erudition and sense of fun among friends.  Although he became part of Waldron’s elite circle, there was nothing Clarke enjoyed more than going for a pint in one of his favourite Dublin pubs with friends from his student days. This was a facet that Robinson included in Clarke’s obituary, describing him as:
…a Dublin man who loved Dublin before everything, loved its slums and its north side, and all the O’Casey side of Dublin.

Important Commissions
The commission that secured Clarke’s reputation was the nine windows he created for The Honan Chapel of St. Finbarr in Cork, between 1915 and 1918. These magnificent windows depicting Mary, Joseph and nine Celtic saints, were central to building a solid reputation for Clarke’s skilled craftsmanship and originality. Other important commissions followed, for windows in churches throughout Ireland and the United Kingdom. Clarke’s Eve of St. Agnes, now at Dublin City Gallery: The Hugh Lane, based on Keats’ poem, was completed in 1924 for the Jacob family. This magnificent window is considered to be one of the most romantic pieces of Irish art to have been created. It depicts the story of two lovers, separated by warring families, who are finally reunited on St. Agnes Eve.

Illness and Death
In the last few years of Clarke’s life he was diagnosed as suffering from tuberculosis. He spent from March 1929 to May 1930, as well as the last three months of his life, in a sanatorium in Davos, Switzerland.  In early January 1931, Clarke realised that he was dying. In at attempt to travel home to be with his family he left Davos but only got as far as Coire. It was there that Clarke died in his sleep on January 6th. Margaret and their three children, Ann, Michael and David, were devastated when the telegram arrived later that day, announcing Harry’s death. Margaret, and Clarke’s friends, Lennox Robinson and Captain Alan Duncan, attended the funeral in Coire.
Margaret erected a simple headstone over Harry’s grave at Coire. A custom in Switzerland deemed that fifteen years after a burial, a notice was placed in the national newspapers requiring the family of the deceased to declare that they would continue to maintain the grave. Since the Clarke family had no knowledge of this, Harry’s remains were disinterred and were buried in a communal area. The headstone was destroyed and no trace of it remains.

Legacy
What does remain however is living testament to Clarke’s extraordinary imagination and artistic brilliance: over 160 windows and a number of panels in churches, museums and in private establishments throughout Ireland, the United Kingdom, the U.S.A and Australia. Although it is 80 years since the death of Harry Clarke, in these dark days of recession and political uncertainty, Ireland has never been more in need of an iconic genius to remind us of all that is great about the Irish spirit. Clarke's magnificent windows can be viewed for free all over the country in churches and in art galleries, where they continue to inspire, by the sheer beauty of the characters portrayed and their dazzling, kaleidoscopic colours.
Lennox Robinson’s extolling of Clarke’s marvellous legacy in his obituary, reminds us of the delicacy and brilliance of this stained-glass genius, whose work has rarely if ever been equalled:
…they are there, for our generation, and for generations to come; those windows in the Honan Chapel in Cork, that marvellous east window in Terenure, those little windows in Monaghan, a glorious Last Judgement which is on its way to Mayo, Stations of the Cross in Lough Derg, and here and there in Ireland, England and America, glories from his imagination. They will shine and glow; those blues and reds–how he loved blue!–an inspiration to the faithful…